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The 2012 Olympic Flame: Halfway to London

Today marks the halfway point of the 70-day Olympic Torch relay through the United Kingdom. Since arriving in Cornwall on May 18, the flame has been carried through villages and cities, across lakes and mountain ranges, on foot, by train, on horseback, and through the air, from Cornwall to the Shetland Islands. By the time it reaches London to launch the 2012 Summer Olympics in 35 days, the torch will have passed through the hands of 8,000 torchbearers.

Actress Ino Menegaki, dressed as a high priestess, lights the torch at a ceremony in Panathinean stadium in Athens, Greece, on May 17, 2012. The torch began its 70-day journey to arrive at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, from the Greek capital, to cover about 8,000-mile trip through England to start the games.
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British soccer player David Beckham lights the Olympic torch from the lantern carried on board a special British Airways flight, following its arrival at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall, on May 18, 2012.
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British television presenter Ben Fogle rises up, attached to a helium filled balloon, while holding the Olympic flame inside the rainforest biodome at the Eden Project, a massive multiple greenhouse complex near St. Austell, England, on May 19, 2012.
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Zara Phillips, member of the British Olympic equestrian eventing team, and the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, holds the Olympic torch while riding through Cheltenham race course in Cheltenham, on May 23, 2012.
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Joanne Gregory, a Scout leader from Llangollen, travels across the thousand-foot-long Pontcysyllte Aqueduct with the Olympic Flame during the Torch Relay leg between Wrexham and Trevor, on May 30, 2012.
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Davie Austin, an employee of the Nevis Range, carrys the Olympic Flame on a gondola on the Nevis Range, a mountain ski resort in the the Highlands of Scotland near Ben Nevis and Fort William, on June 9, 2012.
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Torchbearer Jamie Green, the Children's Patron at young people's mobility charity Whizz-Kidz, holds the Olympic Flame at Scarborough Open Air Theatre during Day 31 of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.
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Torchbearer David State stops midway through his Torch Relay leg between Marske-by-the-Sea and Loftus to propose to his girlfriend Christine Langham before continuing the relay, on June 18, 2012. Christine reportedly said "yes."
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